


The thing about being protective

by Soann



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Accidental Eavesdropping, Cheesy Nicknames, F/M, I hope my English is okay, Implied/Referenced Murder, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Katelyn thinks a lot, Twinyards bonding, mention of some awful times in the books
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-30
Updated: 2018-01-30
Packaged: 2019-03-11 13:23:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13525173
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Soann/pseuds/Soann
Summary: The twins are spending time together and Katelyn can’t help but think about their relationship.





	The thing about being protective

**Author's Note:**

> This was a Secret Santa for ely, but now that it's been more than a month, I've decided to post it here. I don't write much so for once, I figured I could get it here.

No one exactly knew how it had happened except for the twins themselves, but somehow, Andrew had started teaching Aaron how to drive. They didn’t know who had the idea, how Andrew decided it was acceptable to let Aaron drive his Maserati or even that Aaron wanted to learn, but the fact was that now, every sunday and wednesday, the twins took a few hours to themselves during which Andrew drove Aaron somewhere and taught him how to drive. No one knew how the lessons were going or even if Andrew could be a decent teacher despite his, let’s say, unusual ways of communicating, but the twins’ relationship didn’t seem to have changed much in any way despite the lessons, so one did have to assume that they could be going worse.

Katelyn would even, if someone had asked her, admit that it seemed that the lessons were going very well, for Aaron seemed in a pretty good mood everytime he came back from them, not that she ever pointed it out. She liked her boyfriend happy and if that meant not talking about the way he and his brother tentatively tried to mend their fractured relationship, well, she wasn’t exactly happy about it but she was a patient and tactful person and she could wait for the right moment.

She would have said that it was sweet of Andrew to teach him if she had never met Andrew Minyard, but she also knew that most of Andrew’s bark and bite had to do with how overprotective he was of his people. Still definitely not sweet though. But once again, if connecting with his jerk of a brother was the reason the love of her life was so… she wouldn’t say happy, but content, satisfied in a way, well then who was she to complain?

  
It was Sunday, so she was actually waiting for him to finish one of these lessons when the  _thing_  happened for the first time. Aaron was joining her in the dorms to study - unfortunately nothing more, her roommates had refused to leave the room empty - and she had been waiting in the hallway, hoping that maybe they could find someplace where they would, at least, not be disturbed by very loud and nosy roommates who never seemed able to leave her and her relationship alone.

He had been coming from the stairs, a soft smile on his lips the moment he saw her, when Eliza, one of the girls next door, opened her door laughing, a boy Katelyn didn’t know behing her. Whatever they had intended to do, they froze the moment they saw Aaron. Eliza had seen him a few times probably, since she lived next to Katelyn, but the guy clearly never had and, almost immeditaly, blurted out “Man, isn’t that the guy who murdered someone?”

To his credit, Aaron barely reacted. He didn’t roll his eyes or flip the guy off like he might have wanted to, he didn’t freeze like he would have almost a year ago, he kept walking with a frown but didn’t dignify it with an answer.

Katelyn, however? She wanted to kill the guy.

Who did he think he was? He didn’t know Aaron, he didn’t know Andrew, he didn’t know whatever had happened that awful day, he had no right to judge or be afraid like his voice implied. He had no right to hurt her boyfriend like that.

“Excuse you?” she said icily.

The guy seemed to suddenly realize she was there and maybe he saw inside her head for one second because he took a step back. He was frowning.

“Sorry,” he said “I just didn’t know he’d be there. I mean, I didn’t follow the thing, but…”

“Well then you don’t have any opinion worth sharing,” she interrupted him while taking Aaron’s arm. “And we’re leaving.”

She might have dragged her boyfriend behind her for a few steps before the anger abated enough for her to think straight again. Aaron was silent, but when she turned toward him, he was smirking.

“That was cute.”

“Shut up,” she grumbled.

He slowly took her hand away from his arm and kept it in his own, delicately. Maybe too delicately for what she had felt she would have used them for if they had stayed there even one more second.

“Not that I don’t enjoy seeing you defending me, pumpkin juice, but you don’t have to listen to them. I’ve dealed with much worse than that when it was still fresh news.”

He had meant to reassure her, but she just felt worse, and that bottomless anger, that  _thing_  that she had felt then threatened to come back again. She wanted to destroy them, all those who had dared to pass judgement on him without having walked in his shoes. She breathed deeply and felt the poison recede a little. Aaron had probably seen her face because he was now holding her hand in both of his, concern present in his eyes. She forced a pout.

“Pumpkin juice? Seriously? Didn’t we already have a discussion about that?”

“You talked, I decided I liked it and elected to ignore you.”

She huffed in mock outrage and let him laugh at her before she admitted she had no idea where they should be going.

While they walked, looking for a place to stop, she couldn’t help but wonder about the  _thing_ , the anger. She had felt it swallow her whole, maybe if she hadn’t left she would have fought. Maybe she would have hurt the guy and not regretted it. She had to wonder, even for just one second, if it was the way Andrew felt when he saw her.

 

She never exactly forgot about it, but it came back to her when she was searching for him and knocked on his dorm room. She wasn’t surprised to have Matt Boyd open the door and even less surprised at the smile he gave her. What she had done to deserve such a nice welcome every time he saw her, she didn’t know, but it probably had nothing to do with how she had kicked his ass in the last team party’s drinking contest.

“Hello Katelyn, you were looking for Aaron?” She nodded and Matt shook his head. “He is not here right now, went out something like one hour ago. ‘said Andrew needed him for something. But he should be back soon.”

Behind him, Nicky appeared and added: “You want to wait for him here? I made coffee. We both forgot about it so it’s kind of disgusting, to be honest, but hey, coffee is coffee.”

She laughed and politely refused. While they could be nice people, they were also very interested in her relationship. A lot more than even her nosiest roommates, who could harass her every day while Aaron never said a word about his relationships to anyone. And while she wouldn’t mind entertaining them with a few stories (like the time they had fought for something dumb and she had changed his contact name to “fucking dumbass”, she would have left out the sweet things he had done to beg for forgiveness, though, these belonged to her and only her), she also knew that despite Matt’s claims, if he had gone to help Andrew with something, it might actually take him more than an hour or two before coming back. She would rather start her homework than wait for hours with her boyfriend’s cousin and roommate.

There were actually a few instances in which she had realized how much her boyfriend loved his brother. They were small things, things he could deny if he wanted to pretend he hated him, but they happened nonetheless. The twins loved each other, no matter how self-destructive they acted about it. It was a fact Katelyn might have accepted before they did themselves. There were some times, especially around the trial, when she remembered Aaron saying – and probably sometimes pretending - that Andrew needed him for something and leaving her with a few apologies. He might have never noticed the times his excuses were flimsy at best and Katelyn never told him. She never asked, half because she didn’t want to embarrass him and half because she didn’t want to get between the brothers. Andrew had been clear enough about what would happen to her if she did.

But when she thought about it, most of the time, she wondered if the two brothers didn’t simply need to know that the other was safe. Safe and close. She hoped they could learn to let go of the other, or their future life wouldn’t be easy. Not that it would be even without that, she feared these boys could never have an easy life.  
  


A few days after failing to find her boyfriend in his room, she was the lucky secret witness of a rare scene. When she realized how hard it was to catch Neil Josten and Andrew during their alone time, she had to wonder if it was extreme good luck or extreme bad luck that had made her go to the stadium that day.

Truth being said, she was there to get something for Aaron. He had forgotten his gloves. The cold winter wind had reminded him soon enough, but since Katelyn didn’t have class while he did at the moment, he had asked her if she could and “Please Pumpkin juice? I will rub your shoulders!” and “You don’t need to make impossible promises if you want me to do things, dummy, we both know you can barely reach my shoulders.” and that was as good as a yes.

She hadn’t expected to see Palmetto’s Oddest Couple there but the terror that had seized her at the moment had obliterated every other feeling. She had pretty awful memories of the last time these two alone had been with her. Her first reaction had been to hide in the next room, hoping that they did not see her. A few secondes later, Andrew’s bored voice had said a few words and she had tensed before realizing they were addressed to Neil. “You’re an idiot.”

Neil groaned. “It’s just a bruise.”

“A bruise or bruised ribs. Remind me why you wouldn’t let Abby look at you.”

“You know why.”

“That’s still incredibly stupid of you, Mr. I’ll be Court one day. I know Kevin already had a talk with you about hiding your injuries.”

“It’s nothing, I swear!”

“This isn’t nothing.”

Neil snorted at that and there was a little bit of annoyance in Andrew’s voice when he started talking again.

“You know what I meant. Keep your smart comments to yourself.”

“You know you like it. But fine, I’ll let Abby take a look. Now, I’ll give you your hand back but only if you let me stand up.”

“Try to walk without almost dying, for a change.”

They kept bickering until they had left, a banter with sweet undertones that reminded her that yes, these two had a relationship, as weird and private as it was and - oh my god were they holding hands? Well of course they were, they were a couple weren’t they?

She felt a little ashamed to realize how much she had expected the unusual couple to do nothing classically refered to as couple-y, but maybe it was just that they never did this kind of thing in front of others. Andrew was a private person, Aaron was too, but with the way Neil talked and sassed everyone who looked at him the wrong way, she had expected something else from him, grand gestures, public displays of affection… Yet she couldn’t imagine Andrew agreeing with that so maybe it was the reason.

She decided to stop thinking about it. Her boyfriend’s brother’s love life wasn’t anything she should find interest in, so why was she suddenly so obsessed? Maybe it was the same kind of fascination one had with the way dangerous animals lived? As long as you weren’t running for your life, they just looked like fierce creatures with interesting habits.

Yet, the exchange she had witnessed sticked with her. Andrew had a point in that every injury Neil got could should be professionally examined, but the fact that he took the time to make sure Neil was or wasn’t alright before convincing him to go and see the team nurse spoke of a care she should have already associated with him. After all, it wasn’t the first time she had seen - heard - whatever - him be protective. It might just have been the first time there wasn’t any violence involved with the protection.

But more than that, she thought about the way Neil had acted. Teasing, yes, a little annoyed as if his lover? Boyfriend? was acting like an overconcerned mother hen, but soon enough, he had been calm and placating. Which, well, fair enough, placating Andrew was always a priority she would say, but it was quite obvious that Neil had agreed to go and see the team nurse so quickly for Andrew’s sake and not because he agreed with him.

It reminded her of the way she acted around Aaron when he came back bruised from training. She knew it was nothing, she knew they had a nurse, she even knew Aaron could take care of himself - obviously, he was acing the same courses she was taking - but she couldn’t help but worry. She wanted to help. It was a feeling she had come to associate with her boyfriend everytime she saw him. She wanted to protect him in a way, no matter how ridiculous it sounded. She, Katelyn, fierce cheeleader yes but one of the most ordinary person in that damn school, wanted to protect her backliner of a boyfriend, who had already gone through so much shit that his skin had basically turned to steel.

Sometimes, she had seen Neil’s eyes turn to ice when one dared throw a derogative word towards Andrew, even though the man himself didn’t seem to give a flying fuck about the way others saw him. Better to be feared than loved might have been the Minyard way, but it clearly wasn’t something their significant other agreed with. And the ones who loved them had one thing in common: they desperately wanted to protect these people who could probably look after themselves.

Probably.  
  
  
The  _thing_  resurfaced a few weeks later. She had said goodbye to Aaron, who had accompanied her to her class because it was on the way to these famous driving lessons that seemed to make him so  _content_ , and had left. Then, one of these jerks that are unfortunately everywhere – a guy named Claus who she had barely ever talked to but who loved to give her his opinion even when she clearly wasn’t interested - said so loudly that it was obvious he wanted her to hear: “I still don’t get how that guy didn’t end up in prison.”

Slowly, she had turned towards him and she had felt the venom, the poison take control of her veins. That violent need to protect posessed her. “He was protecting his brother, you asshole, how dare you say something like that.”

“Yeah, right. Pretty sure the freak was enjoying it anyway.”

Well, looked like she was going to tear him a new asshole.

The biggest miracle that happened that day might have been the fact that the guy didn’t even get a black eye. She got in his face, ready to throw him to the ground - some would have said she probably couldn’t do it, she didn’t have the strength, but she was actually pretty sure she could have taken him. (Being a cheerleader takes a lot more strength than people think.) But she stopped at putting a finger in his face.

“Oh no, mister, you don’t get to say that. You need to learn how to shut your trap before someone shuts it for you. I’m enclined to destroy your jaw right now and you would deserve it.”

“Come on, you can’t…”

“I can and I will! You don’t get to insult my boyfriend like that. Are you saying that if you saw someone hurting a person you love you wouldn’t help them? If so you are despicable, much more despicable than my Aaron could ever be. And then you try to pretend that someone could actually enjoy… you are digusting, be glad I’m the one who heard you, I’ll stop at a warning for this time. Next time I’ll punch you I swear, and I know two people who would have done worse if they had heard you. Believe-me, if they had decided to kill you, I would have watched.”

“Why are you defending him? You hate him! Is it because he’s your boytoy’s brother, 'cause come on Kate, you know the guy is crazy!”

“Disliking and being disliked by someone does not stop you from being a fucking decent person, you piece of shit!” She spat. “But I wouldn’t be surprised if the concept seemed totally alien to you.”

She had to stop there, because the teacher had just arrived and was watching the scene with the tired eyes of someone who had had far too many similar moments in their life.

“Am I interrupting something?” he said in a dry voice implying that he didn’t care as long as it didn’t disturb their class.

“No, not really. We were done.” Katelyn answered, still glaring at the douchebag.

He clearly thought it wasn’t worth missing class for and didn’t add anything, so she ended up sitting down, silently forcing herself to calm down her anger, seething, thinking it was a good thing Aaron had not witnessed that. In fact, she was so focused on biting her tongue that she didn’t check the hallway or see blonde hair walking away.

* * *

  
Aaron could not have had, in fact, witnessed the scene, as he was now standing in front of the Maserati, anxiously waiting for his brother who had never made a habit of being late for these lessons.

Finally, he saw Andrew coming closer, expressionless as always. Yet, in that weird way that only those who really knew him could notice, he looked a little thoughtful.

Nonchalantly, he threw his keys at his brother, who caught them, fumbling a little bit but never dropping them.

“We’ll make it short today.” said Andrew.

“Got somewhere to be?”

“I don’t. You might. Someone will need to check on you soon.”

“What?”

He didn’t get any answer and wasn’t that surprised, getting an answer with words out of Andrew had been deemed impossible by pretty much anyone that wasn’t Neil Josten. Aaron quickly forgot about it, only remembering a few hours later, when Andrew made him stop early and dropped him of in front of the building where Katelyn had her classes.

When she came out, she had seemed a little distressed and just mentioned some people were being assholes about him. He didn’t ask to know more, he had waited for a while and during that time, far too many people had already thrown jokes about what had happened earlier at him, but he had to wonder about the odds of Andrew hearing Katelyn fiercely defending both of them.

 _“_ _Someone will need to check on you soon.”_ Andrew had said. He had a little smile, wondering at the fact that Andrew now thought of Katelyn as someone. Someone important enough for Aaron that he would sacrifice their precious bonding time to let her check on him.

_(Here’s a secret no one has to know: no one convinced Andrew to start teaching Aaron how to drive. Both of them may have needed that time together and neither of them would have freely admitted it, but when Andrew had thrown the keys at his brother while saying “Time for you to stop being useless around a car”, they had both known what this was really about.)_

What had just happened wasn’t exactly trust or even a tentative friendship. But it was some kind of acceptance. It was Andrew accepting that Katelyn was important for his brother and that she actually found him - both of them - worth defending. It was accepting that, maybe, he could let her protect him sometimes, instead of doing it all on his own.

And right now, for Aaron, it was more than enough.


End file.
